The study “The Human-AI Partnership in Romanian Newsrooms: AI as Both a News Topic and a Tool” by Georgeta Drula from University of Bucharest was a two-part study investigating both AI topics in news stories and the adoption of AI in newsrooms through interviews.
Five research questions guided the study. Q1 – Is AI a topic of interest in the news published on Romanian websites? Q2 – In which stages of the news production process can AI be integrated? Q3 – How are AI tools adopted in newsrooms to create multimedia or news content? Q4 – Is journalism automated and developed by using AI in Romania? Q5 – Are Romanian journalists currently using artificial intelligence in their work? What are their concerns and hopes related to AI?
509 articles were collected for the analysis, with 448 news articles remaining after the data clearing. 424 were assigned to thematic subcategories. The thematic categories concerned EU regulation and ethical implications of AI, AI applications in various sectors of activity, concerns and risks associated with ÁI, and technological developments of AI. The majority were positive in tone, with only 24 expressing a negative sentiment toward AI, with 290 conveying a positive tone. Eight of these were “strongly positive”.
In the Romanian newsrooms, the use of AI covered news creation, such as using it for illustrations or for summarizing content or outlining main ideas. However, AI was not involved in the actual production of news content currently – it instead assisted in preparation.
Ethical questions were considered in the newsrooms – an interviewee stated that they did not use AI images, and the interviewees were conscious about the use of AI without verification by an experienced journalist. One interviewee was concerned about using AI to analyze data, as they believed it might offer erroneous data.
A repeated theme was caution in using AI directly, instead it was relegated to repetitive tasks and thus it had the potential to alleviate labor shortages in the newsrooms. Some believed that new skills are needed, others saw no change in their profession. The potential of journalists returning to the field, leaving menial tasks to AI was highlighted.
In summary, the Romanian news organizations are mostly positive towards AI, as evidenced by the tone of articles. Actual production processes of news creation were not yet affected by AI, but pre- and postproduction benefitted from it. The findings align with Nishal, Li, and Diakopoulos (2024) in the topic of automation. Journalists might need new skills to manage AI in newsrooms, but the core of their work remains unchanged. There is even potential for new jobs and roles, such as AI prompt specialist or AI content editor.
The article “The Human-AI Partnership in Romanian Newsrooms: AI as Both a News Topic and a Tool” by Georgeta Drula is in Journalism Practice. (free abstract).
Picture: An aerial view of a castle surrounded by trees in Romania by Gloria Cretu.
License Unsplash.
